IBM Case Studies AppAdvice: Personalized iOS app news and reviews powered by IBM Cloudant DBaaS

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	AppAdvice: Personalized iOS app news and reviews powered by IBM Cloudant DBaaS IBM

AppAdvice: Personalized iOS app news and reviews powered by IBM Cloudant DBaaS

IBM

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases
Applicable Industries	Retail
Applicable Functions	Maintenance
Use Cases	Retail Store Automation Time Sensitive Networking
Challenge	AppAdvice, a Los Angeles-based company providing a comprehensive range of iPhone and iPad application reviews, news, and app discovery services, faced a significant challenge in managing its variably structured data. The company needed to store this data in its application catalog in a way that was not only easy and inexpensive to start with but also capable of handling potentially massive future growth. Given the nature of the data, a relational SQL database was not a viable option for the platform. As an early-stage company, AppAdvice was looking for a NoSQL database that was easy and inexpensive to get started with, but built for growth. Read More
About Customer	AppAdvice is a Los Angeles-based company that provides a comprehensive range of iPhone and iPad application reviews, news, and app discovery services. The company helps online and mobile visitors discover interesting and new iOS apps. AppAdvice filters through the 1 million+ apps in the App Store to help novice and experienced smart device owners find relevant new apps and reviews by personalizing content based on hobbies, industry verticals, and other personalized themes. As an early-stage company, AppAdvice was looking for a NoSQL database that was easy and inexpensive to get started with, but built for growth. Read More
Solution	AppAdvice chose IBM Cloudant, a NoSQL database-as-a-service (DBaaS) solution, to manage its multi-structured data. The company opted for Cloudant for several reasons, including its schemaless JSON data storage, which made it a natural fit for the multi-structured apps catalog, reviews, and news that AppAdvice manages. Cloudant's scale-out architecture was another key feature, making it ideal to support AppAdvice’s user base and database growth. Its fault-tolerance, with data distributed across several data centers for high availability, was also a significant factor. Cloudant is hosted and managed by IBM Cloud Data Services, enabling AppAdvice to remain focused on development rather than being distracted by database administration. AppAdvice started out running on a multi-tenant Cloudant database cluster for free in 2010, and began paying as its application grew. The company eventually moved to a dedicated, single-tenant cluster for even better price-performance. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases

Applicable Industries

Retail

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Use Cases

Retail Store Automation

Time Sensitive Networking

Challenge

AppAdvice, a Los Angeles-based company providing a comprehensive range of iPhone and iPad application reviews, news, and app discovery services, faced a significant challenge in managing its variably structured data. The company needed to store this data in its application catalog in a way that was not only easy and inexpensive to start with but also capable of handling potentially massive future growth. Given the nature of the data, a relational SQL database was not a viable option for the platform. As an early-stage company, AppAdvice was looking for a NoSQL database that was easy and inexpensive to get started with, but built for growth.

About Customer

AppAdvice is a Los Angeles-based company that provides a comprehensive range of iPhone and iPad application reviews, news, and app discovery services. The company helps online and mobile visitors discover interesting and new iOS apps. AppAdvice filters through the 1 million+ apps in the App Store to help novice and experienced smart device owners find relevant new apps and reviews by personalizing content based on hobbies, industry verticals, and other personalized themes. As an early-stage company, AppAdvice was looking for a NoSQL database that was easy and inexpensive to get started with, but built for growth.

Solution

AppAdvice chose IBM Cloudant, a NoSQL database-as-a-service (DBaaS) solution, to manage its multi-structured data. The company opted for Cloudant for several reasons, including its schemaless JSON data storage, which made it a natural fit for the multi-structured apps catalog, reviews, and news that AppAdvice manages. Cloudant's scale-out architecture was another key feature, making it ideal to support AppAdvice’s user base and database growth. Its fault-tolerance, with data distributed across several data centers for high availability, was also a significant factor. Cloudant is hosted and managed by IBM Cloud Data Services, enabling AppAdvice to remain focused on development rather than being distracted by database administration. AppAdvice started out running on a multi-tenant Cloudant database cluster for free in 2010, and began paying as its application grew. The company eventually moved to a dedicated, single-tenant cluster for even better price-performance.

Impact #1	With the implementation of IBM Cloudant, AppAdvice has been able to manage its huge volume of daily users and scale for rising data volumes and business growth. The solution has eliminated maintenance tasks and optimized database performance, freeing up developer time to focus on improving the customer experience rather than administering databases. The company has been able to maintain its focus on development, without being distracted by database administration. The use of Cloudant has also allowed AppAdvice to manage its expanding user base and catalog effectively.

Impact #1

With the implementation of IBM Cloudant, AppAdvice has been able to manage its huge volume of daily users and scale for rising data volumes and business growth. The solution has eliminated maintenance tasks and optimized database performance, freeing up developer time to focus on improving the customer experience rather than administering databases. The company has been able to maintain its focus on development, without being distracted by database administration. The use of Cloudant has also allowed AppAdvice to manage its expanding user base and catalog effectively.

Benefit #1	Supports over 400,000 users a day and scales for rising data volumes and business growth
Benefit #2	Eliminates maintenance tasks and optimizes database performance
Benefit #3	Increases developer time to focus on improving the customer experience

Benefit #1

Supports over 400,000 users a day and scales for rising data volumes and business growth

Benefit #2

Eliminates maintenance tasks and optimizes database performance

Benefit #3

Increases developer time to focus on improving the customer experience

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Overview

AppAdvice: Personalized iOS app news and reviews powered by IBM Cloudant DBaaS

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit